


Louise's Burgers

by MadManMoody



Category: Bob's Burgers (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Coming of Age, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Older Characters, Other, potential romance later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:47:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24564847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadManMoody/pseuds/MadManMoody
Summary: Talking place nearly 20 years after the show, when Big Bob dies and Bob takes over his father's diner, Louise is forced to take over her own father's restaurant. But she just can't seem to get it to work. Will she be able to make her father's business work or will it all collapse around her?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. One

Culinary school had been a waste and working in the shitty pub near it had been a total drag. Louise told herself that it was better than working with her father. It was better than living under his “guidelines”. How far was too far was for her to decide.

Then had come the call and she found herself back home. Her grandfather “Big Bob” had died and after weeks debate, Bob, her father, had decided that Big Bob's should stay open and he'd let one of his kids take over his restaurant. Tina had written a best selling erotic fantasy novel and lived in an apartment uptown, walking distance from the restaurant. She had her life and really no interest in cooking. Gene was on the up and up working the SoundCloud scene. As a result, he was still living on his parent's couch, but he knew he'd make it big before too much longer.

That left Louise, and that was why her father had called her. They had spoken for hours over the course of several days, talking about a great many things and coming to terms with a great many things. By the end of the conversation, Bob had decided that he would let her take over Bob's Burgers.

For what seemed like months he had stressed the importance of making sure the customers got what they came for and getting the balance just right. He knew she could do it, but she could tell he was giving up something he had put his life into.

The last thing he told her before he drove his beat-up old station wagon off had almost broken her.

“Guess this officially makes me the new Big Bob, huh?” she would often recall him saying. “You know, you might as well rename it Louise's Burgers now.”

It would have been a lie if Louise said she didn't make the first 'Burger of the Day' “The Child Molester, served with a white sauce and candied peaches”. She'd planned on it since she was a kid and had improved the design of the burger since then as well as the depth of the joke. She knew it was a work of art in terms of taste and perfect pun. She knew it was flawless and she had been so prepared to usher in a brand new highly successful era of Bob's Burgers.

To no one's surprise, it did not sell well.

And the next burger didn't work.

And the next, and the next, and the one after that too.

The trend continued.

Day after day it seemed like she just could not make it work. She'd called her father and after a pleasant conversation could not admit that she was struggling and the bills were mounting. She had to make him proud. She had to figure it out.

It seemed to drag on forever. Rent became hard to make. James Pesto Jr had taken over managing the boardwalk in Mr. Fischoeder's later years and now that the old man had passed on, James had taken control of managing the estate. Mr. Fischoeder had no heir beyond his brother and now both of them were gone anyway, the weight of their rich lifestyles catching them in their 90s. This left James as basically the most powerful man on the Wharf.

He was also Tina's on again off again ex-husband. They'd married and been divorced three times and when Louise took over Bob's, they were on a cold spell. This did not bode well for Louise in terms of rent.

To make matters worse she had yet to get any help and was running the restaurant all by herself. Bob had Linda, she had herself. She told herself she could do it, but she hadn't even managed to get the cash register to work right. The latest issue, in a long line of issues, was that the cash drawer was stuck and seemed to make the whole machine not work. She'd been running most of the money out of a shoebox. She was terrified to ask her dad how to run it, terrified that he'd see how ill-prepared she really was and how badly she was screwing things up.

But it wasn't like she was getting many customers. At any given time there were less than four people around, and that counted her and Gene.

Gene had even set up a drum circle with a few neighborhood kids to attract attention and it had done very little. A couple of people had come in to ask if she had anything to do with it. When they had made it clear they wanted to complain if she did, she had made it clear she was not involved at all.

When Teddy had come in for his daily burger Louise had been relieved to just see someone she knew would order something. It had been a rough morning.

“The sign is blank,” Teddy said gesturing to the blank “Burger of the Day” sign. “How am I supposed to know what the Burger is? Or is it a surprise? I like surprises. I'll take the surprise Burger of the Day.” Anxiety turned to decisive relief and comfort as Teddy spoke.

“I'm thinking about quitting that,” Louise said with a sigh, looking intently at her brother, a grown man sitting on the sidewalk pounding on a bucket with a group of children banning on other buckets. It didn't sound half bad, though that could have been her fondness for him. She'd seen him get the listeners online, but he just couldn't get the traction to turn it into anything.

“Quitting them? Why?” Teddy said in shock. He began to hyperventilate. “Your joking right? Right? Louise? I'm no spring chicken. Don't play games with me like that! It's bad for my heart.”

“I just don't have the touch for them. I'm not my father, you know,” Louise said, her voice showing how downtrodden she was.

“No! You make great burgers. Maybe not so great buns, but the burgers are great!” Teddy insisted.

“The bun guy quit making buns. I have to buy them from a store,” Louise admitted weakly.

“You'll find a new bun guy!” Teddy said eagerly.

“Don't you think I've tried? Dad made some enemies back in the day. Do you know how much of a perfectionist he was? He burned a lot of bridges and this is still Bob's Burgers,” she shot back angrily.

“So what are you going to do?” Teddy asked, a note of total terror in his voice.

“I don't know,” Louise admitted weakly.

“Can I still get the surprise Burger of the Day?” Teddy asked hopefully. He was not prepared to let her stop making a Burger of the Day. It had been an important part of his life since he had been a lot younger and still worked as a handyman. He was long since retired now, but that Burger of the Day was a continued ritual that made him feel like a young man, even if Bob had switched him to a veggie-based burger years ago and never told him. Teddy noticed the first few times, but Bob had gotten some pretty good fake veggie meat eventually and it stuck.

“Yeah Teddy, one surprise Burger of the Day,” she said and offered him a weak smile. She picked up the chalk and wrote quickly on the board 'Secret Ingredient Burger' before going to the kitchen and making Teddy a burger with a couple of extra pickles. Seeing his delight at the burger lifted her spirits a great deal and she then spent an enjoyable hour listening to him guess what the secret ingredient of the burger was.

By the end of the day, Louise had made no real headway moneywise and as she stuck the register shoebox into the safe she could not help but stress over how light the box felt. She knew she wasn't going to make rent. She could barely afford beef.

She needed to stir up some business. She needed to get the register open. She needed how to figure out how to make Bob's Burgers work without Bob.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: Styx – Renegade 04:18
> 
> Edit 6/9/2020 - changed some wording and clarified some points.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louise has a conversation with Gene

When she had at long last closed the restaurant for the evening and Louise made her way upstairs she made a note of the buckets now sitting just inside the door. Gene had, at the very least, left them stacked and out of the way. He was helpful enough that Louise had come to kinda depend on having him around. As she made her way upstairs the stairs to the second floor of the restaurant she was both pleased and disappointed as the smell of pizza in the oven drifted down to greet her nose. She was pleased because it meant her brother had indeed made something for supper. She was disappointed because it was another frozen pizza.

But Gene had never been much of a chef and with money as tight as it was, frozen pizza was a lot cheaper than him trying to order delivery again. That had ended badly before when she had been forced to explain to a very angry delivery driver that he was not getting paid. So this was something better than that at least.

"What flavor is it?" she asked as she popped her head into the living room and saw her brother sitting on the floor cross-legged with his laptop sitting on the coffee table, his state of the art synthesizer plugged into it. He looked like he was deep in his rhythm and didn't hear her. He had an adorable focus when he was in the zone and, as she had explained to far too many people far too many times, he really did get a wide range of listeners, even if he hadn't figured out how to make money off it beyond the couple of bucks his drum circle would earn from people who walked by.

Instead of saying anything more she went to the kitchen and opened the oven to peer in. Pepperoni and Mushroom. Not the worst flavor combination. Gene had been relatively creative with toppings from time to time. Nothing had been so unbearable she had skipped eating it, but for some she hadn't gone back for seconds.

She checked the timer and sat down at the table.

"Pizza almost done?" Gene asked popping his head into the kitchen.

"Just like us, I don't think it will be much longer," Louise said sadly and leaned back in her chair to stare at the ceiling. For a day in which she was convinced she had done almost nothing, she felt exhausted. Or maybe it was just that she was really freaking depressed. Either way, the only person who could talk to her at all without risk of their head being bitten off was Gene. And he always seemed to know what she needed to hear in those kinds of moments.

"Don't say that sis. I'm certain one of these days I'm going to be replaced by Doctor Sam Beckett and then we'll succeed in like an hour of TV. It always works out," he said opening the oven. "Geez, it's hot in there." He grabbed an oven mitt and pulled the rack out partway. "I think she's done. Or at least done enough that I think eating her won't kill us with the Wu Tang Clan virus."

As she watched him take the pizza out and cut it, Louise had to admire him. Somehow even when things had fallen apart so badly, he had a positive attitude. She really wished that attitude was infectious. "That's not a thing you know."

"It totally is. I hope you're hungry. I threw this in when I still thought Tina was going to come over for supper," Gene said setting a plate with a couple of slices in front of Louise.

"She was really going to come to supper? And not have another meal with her fancy friends?" Louise asked skeptically as she picked up a slice of pizza and sniffed it skeptically. Gene had gotten mushrooms from unscrupulous people before and made some very interesting pizza with them, not on purpose, of course, Gene was just that trusting of street vendors selling mushrooms. She'd learned to be careful when he cooked and to keep him out of the kitchen in the restaurant. "Like, she called you and said she was coming over?"

"Well, no, but I kinda thought she might stop by today. I mean this is the anniversary of when she moved out," Gene said leaning against the counter and taking a bite of pizza.

"Yeah, I don't think she'd come back to celebrate the anniversary of her second biggest fight with dad," Louise said with a shrug and took a bite of pizza, chewing slowly.

"Yeah... That wasn't that great of a day," Gene said chewing thoughtfully.

"I think the only one of us who didn't leave after a fight with dad is you," Louise said with a sigh and took another bite of pizza. It didn't taste drugged and she figured if it was, at least it might be something to help her relax.

"Yeah, but I don't think mom and dad were overly pleased with my career choice, any more than they were with yours before you decided to come back," Gene said with a shrug.

"You say that like I ever wanted them to be pleased with me," Louise said taking an angry bite of pizza and glaring at him. She got up to the fridge and grabbed a beer out, opening it on the handle of the fridge and taking a long drink.

"When is the last time you went on a date?" Gene asked abruptly.

"What?" Louise asked almost spitting out her mouthful of beer in shock.

"A date, with a guy or gal or whatever. When is the last time you went on one?" He pressed on with almost a stubborn degree of casualness. He was good at prying information out of her. Asking as bluntly as possible as casually as possible for as long as possible, at least until she gave in and answered. He'd once asked about a boy she went to high school with on repeat for 4 days before she'd told him that they'd broken up because some guys just can't take a punch. It had totally ruined her Senior Spring Break.

"It's been a while," Louise admitted sheepishly. No point in dragging this out.

"I can tell. You need to get laid," Gene said frustratingly casually as he grabbed a plate and began stacking it with pizza. "Now I am going to take this pizza and put on some kung-fu. I have 3 more DVDs in the boxset to get through. You can watch too or you can mope in her and be lonely and depressed. But if you come to watch, leave the drama in the kitchen."

"I'm not-" she began but was interrupted by Gene.

"Nope, Kung-Fu time. You can join or be a glum-bum in here. No other choice," he said and walked into the living room.

"I'm not-" she called after him, stopping herself this time. After only a moment of sitting alone in the kitchen she picked up her plate and walked into the living room. "What movie are you on?"

"Hands of Death," Gene said as he got himself comfortable sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table facing the TV.

"Is it a good one?" she asked as she climbed over him and stretched out on the couch.

"Don't know, haven't seen it yet," Gene said as he started the movie.

Louise didn't see the end of the movie, falling asleep on the couch with a slice of pizza still in her hand. She woke up the next morning under her plush Kuchi Kopi blanket and nothing but a crust left of the slice she held.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: Def Leppard - Rock Of Ages
> 
> Edit 6/9/2020: changed some wording and clarified some points.


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gene makes a call

The high life should have changed Tina, but in truth, it had only changed the world around her. She found herself looking at butts more than she bothered to make eye contact at the fancy parties she was forced to go to by her publisher. Her 'Love and Zombies' saga had earned her enough money to be comfortable on her own, but not overly so, and enough fame that she was pressured into going to parties she didn't want to go to.  
  
And to make it worse she knew she couldn't go home. The last time she'd spoken to her father for more than five minutes it had been a fight over her deciding to not go into the family business and pursue her career as a writer. By the end, he would still talk to her, but he would barely look at her and he wouldn't talk long. She knew he was disappointed in her. But she had to tell herself she had made it. Told herself she lived the high life and that she had so many famous people who liked her.  
  
And yet she made it a point to disappear at parties mysteriously before the host could introduce her to many guests. She'd find a quiet corner and nurse a couple of drinks until others started to leave and then it was usually a subway ride to her apartment and her cat.  
  
She'd gotten the cat from her aunt when she had moved into an apartment on her own. She made it a point that she was only going to get the single cat and she was not going to become as obsessed with her cat as her aunt was.  
  
So far she'd maintained an emotional distance from the cat and even when Jimmy was sitting on her lap she would only pet him for a few minutes before she'd shoo him away. She wanted to make sure he didn't get too clingy.  
  
Like many nights Tina sat with Jimmy on her lap and stare at the late-night horror film on basic cable and consider writing. She hadn't written a word in more than a month, but her publisher had told her not to worry. The delay would only increase the hype for her next book.  
  
She had finally gotten out of her heels and into a robe when she was jumped out of her boring daze by the sound of the phone ringing.  
  
"Whoa!" she cried aloud, the phone had startled her so much she'd jumped and Jimmy got up and wandered off, likely to go clean himself in the corner. She grabbed it quickly and put it to her ear. "Hello?" Her voice was nervous. The only person who called her was her publicist and he'd been getting weird recently.  
  
"Hell~o!" Came the cheerful voice of her brother. She might not have been on the best of terms with her father and she doubted her sister was pleased with her for abandoning the family business, but as far as she knew she was still cool with Gene.  
  
"Hey, what's going on?" she asked, doing her best to sound like she hadn't just screamed because the phone rang.  
  
"Not good. Louise is going crazy and it's really killing the vibe around here," Gen explained in the way only he could.  
  
"What's going on?" she asked curling herself on the couch and getting comfortable once more, she'd been out of the loop for far too long and she wanted to hear it all.  
  
"Well, remember how Dad used to get super stressed about bills and freaked out because the restaurant wasn't going to make it because he had a slow day?" Gene asked.  
  
"Erm... Yeah?" Tina offered not quite certain where he was going.  
  
"We've had a bad couple of weeks and your ex-husband thinks we need to pay rent on time," Gene went on. "Or are you still married and just on a break? It's hard to keep track of."  
  
"Still married, break," Tina explained glancing at the photo that was facedown by her bed. "And what do you want me to do? If he was talking to me do you really think I'd be living in this apartment?"  
  
"No, I just want you to come to dinner. Louise needs her big sister and I need help with this beat I'm working on," Gene said, almost pleading.  
  
"Does she know you're calling me?" Tina asked with a heavy sigh.  
  
"Well, no. She wants you to come crawling back all on your own. I'm not allowed to call," Gene replied sadly. "Why is she even mad at you anyway?"  
  
"She's mad at me because Dad is mad at me. I think she was mad that I left her alone with his expectations and then made it even harder for her to leave," Tina replied burying her head in her arms but held the phone to her ear.  
  
"Geez, at least neither of you is the family disappointment. I mean do you know how much I make? I could actually buy the burger a day and maybe even a beer," Gene confessed. "You guys are out there, doing stuff. Both of you are actually standing on your own two feet."  
  
"Yeah... My own two feet," Tina replied. She wanted to tell him how much she missed them, how much she wanted to come home, either to her family or her husband. Jimmy the cat was no substitute for Jimmy the man, no matter how much she acted like her was. "How much do you think she'd rub it in my face if I stopped by for a visit."  
  
"Expect a face rubbing and a couple of hugs at least. I think she just needs to see someone friendly for once. Plus I bet if we told Teddy he'd want to get his books signed. He is your 5th biggest fan. Right behind me and well below Mom."  
  
"A have a few pins from the book fair in New York," she offered.  
  
"Bring those too," Gene replied, now clearly smiling on the other end of the line.  
  
"Sure... If I come... I can bring them..." Tina said, now suddenly hesitating.  
  
"Lunch or Supper?" Gene asked, totally ignoring the 'if'.  
  
"Lunch, I guess," Tina replied.  
  
"Cool, see you in 14 hours, love you, sis, bye," Gene said quickly and hung up before she could back out.  
  
"Well, Jimmy, it looks like I'm going home," she said to the cat in the corner who was cleaning his butt. The cat simply looked up at her with its tongue still sticking out. "I hope it goes well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foreigner – Cold as Ice


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tina has a talk with Louise, it goes about how you'd expect.

Teddy sat at the counter and slowly working his way through his lunch burger while Louise gathered the plates and cups from the lunch rush. True, the lunch rush had been like 4 people counting Teddy, but with no one to bus the tables, Louise was running a little behind.   
  
When she heard the bell above the door tinkle she didn't look up and instead called, "One second."  
  
"Okay, I can wait," Tina said as she went to the counter and took a seat.  
  
Louise dropped a glass on the floor, which shattered into a million tiny shards, at the sound of her sister's voice. "Oh no! Nope! Go home Tina!" she called as she stepped over the broken glass and pointed to the door.  
  
"Gene called..." Tina tried to explain.  
  
"Gene does a lot of things," Louise said folding her arms. "He doesn't speak for me."  
  
"I know... But I figured..." Tina began weakly.  
  
"Figured what? That you could walk in and be welcomed with open arms?" Louise shot back. She was fuming and in no mood to talk this over.  
  
"Well..." Tina began, trailing off.  
  
"Well, you can't. How do you think Dad would feel?" Louise pressed.  
  
"I don't..." Tina tried.  
  
"No you don't," Louise shot her down almost immediately. "You have your world and you made it clear we aren't part of it."  
  
"That's not..." Tina tired once more.  
  
"I don't want to hear it. You made it clear what you think, now let me make it clear what I think. You left, so stay left. I don't need you. We don't need you. No one here needs you. Go away," Louise said and stormed to the kitchen.   
  
Tina hung her head and disappeared out the door.  
  
In the kitchen, Louise sat near the dishwasher and hugged her knees. Tears welled in her eyes and slid down her cheeks, but she made sure she didn't make a sound.  
  
"That could have gone better," the walkie talkie in Teddy's pocket said. "Teddy, turn me off, I have work to do."  
  
"Sure thing," Teddy said, pulling the bright green walkie out of his pocket and turning it off. He then returned to his burger. He had faith in Gene. Gene would know what to do. Sure Louise was mad, but Gene would fix it. Teddy was certain of that.  
  
-  
  
Elsewhere Gene set the walkie down and frowned. He had known his sister was bitter, but this was more bitter than he had in mind. He also knew that if Tina didn't help now then it wouldn't matter. They would lose the restaurant and then they'd be on their own.   
  
He really did not want to live with his parents again. His mom would either baby him too much or give him grief for not working. Louise let him do his thing and he'd learned to like his freedom. He was not prepared to give it up.   
  
He quickly rushed out of the apartment and less than 50 yards from the front door he managed to intercept his sister. He quickly caught her and pulled her into a hug.   
  
Tina's cheeks were smeared with mascara that had run thanks to the tears. At the feeling of the warm embrace of her brother she almost melted. It was the first time anyone but her cat had shown her any love in far too long, being right on the heels of her sister chewing her out didn't help either.   
  
"Okay, so that could have gone better," Gene said simply.  
  
"You... you heard?" Tina asked, lifting her head and taking a step back.   
  
"I had a spy," Gene said with a wink as he did his best to wipe the makeup off his shirt with his hand, it smeared on the shirt and his hand.   
  
"Teddy," Tina asked a small smile breaking through her depression.  
  
"Teddy," a big smile spreading across his face.   
  
"Not that it matters. I knew she'd be mad..." Tina said hanging her head. "I shouldn't have come."  
  
"Nope, I just should have primed her first. You know Louise. She needs to be primed. She isn't good when surprised," Gene said sounding quite certain. "I have a plan."  
  
"You have a plan?" Tina was skeptical.  
  
"I do have a plan. And it's a good plan," Gene said sounding quite confident.  
  
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this," Tina asked, pulling a tissue out of her purse and wiping her eyes.  
  
"Because you have seen my plans before," Gene admitted with a sly smirk. "But this time I know what to do!"  
  
"And what's that?" Tina asked not quite as skeptical as she had been.  
  
Gene just smiled in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louise has a talk about her feelings... with a burger...

After Tina had left and the only people who remained were her and a couple of customers, Louise found herself staring blankly at the burger on the grill. The burger stared back. She poked it with her flipper and it sizzled.

"You should have been nicer," the burger said in a voice very much like her own.

"I should have been a lot of things," Louise shot back angrily.

The burger sizzled in disappointment. Louise pressed it down with her flipper. It sizzled louder in protest. She considered the underside for a moment to see if she needed to flip it yet.

"I don't need grief from you Burger," Louise said and glared at it. Soon it would need to be flipped and then it might shut up.

"Your sister doesn't need grief from you," the burger shot back in her voice.

"She knows what she did," Louise said and flipped the burger. Maybe that would silence the thing. She didn't need her burgers telling her how much she screwed things up. She knew that all on her own.

"You left too," the burger replied. The flipping had not shut it up and it sizzled on, telling her things she knew already and that really didn't help. At least that's what she told herself.

"I came back..." Louise said weakly. It wasn't like she had a good argument for that. She had left as well. She'd left her family just the same as Tina had. She had planned to return about as much as she figured Tina had. It had only been because her dad had asked her to come back and offered her the restaurant that she had returned at all. Dad hadn't offered it to Tina. She wondered if Tina would have taken it if their father had offered it to her.

"She did too, you just kicked her back out," the burger replied. It was really getting on her nerves. And it was just about ready to be eaten for it's defiance to her. Some part of her wanted to give the guy who ordered it a deal for having to put up with such a mouthy burger, but she was not in a good enough position financially to do even that.

So Louise didn't reply. Instead, she put the burger on a bun, added the veggies and sauce, and put it on a plate. A moment later it was joined by a helping of fresh fries. The plate complete she carried out to the customer. A moment later she had returned to the kitchen and scrapped at the grill with her flipper.

-

It had been a bad idea to send Tina in cold. Gene could see that now. After his conversation with Tina, he'd hidden away in the basement to work out his plan. He needed his sisters to get along if the restaurant was going to make it. He had no desire to run it, but he also didn't want to see it fail. He had never wanted to see it fail.

But the issue was how to get Louise to agree to accept help from Tina. He had to convince Louise to ask Tina for help. That would not be easy. So it meant he was going to have to play hardball. It meant he was going to have to remind Louise that she needed her sister, that she wanted the best for her. It meant that he had to be a bad guy.

He could do that.

He grabbed the nearest box of something that looked like he would have gone down there for and headed upstairs. "Can you believe the nerve of that bitch," he said when he was certain Louise would hear, walking into the kitchen carrying what apparently was a load of napkins from the basement. "Showing up here all uninvited and stinking up the place. I figured she wouldn't smell so bad when she hit menopause."

"Don't say that..." Louise said weakly as she moved to the prep table to cut up a tomato. After her conversation with the burger, she wasn't really in the mood to rag on her sister. Some part of her wished she could get a redo on that one.

"I heard you. It seemed like we were going back to calling 'You-Know-Who' the B-word again," Gene said with a shrug as he began to refill a couple of spare napkin dispensers.

"I don't..." Louise said hanging her head and dumping the sliced tomato into the container with the others.

"Or do you think you can run this place on your own?" Gene asked pressing a load of napkins into the dispenser. He noted how guilty she was acting and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't pleased by this. It meant convincing her to do what must be done would be far easier. His tone didn't betray any emotion. Louise had learned to hate it when he was like this, it meant he was being clever.

"And you think Miss High-and-Mighty Tina will come to help us?" Louise demanded, folding her arms across her apron, still gripping a knife she had spent way too much money on.

"Yep," Gene replied simply. As he set down one napkin dispenser and began top cram napkins into another.

Louise had no clue how to respond.

"I'm going to invite her to dinner. I think you should apologize and ask her for help," Gene went on. He was very determined to work this out and he was not about to let her dissuade him. He knew she'd push back, but he was ready.

"You what?!" Louise asked shocked that he would even imply something like that, let alone say it. She might have been feeling more sympathetic to her sister, but she was not quite ready to bury the hatchet that much. She wanted to be mad for a bit longer. "I will do no such thing."

"You totally will. And I can tell you why," Gene replied giving her a look that said he meant business.

"And what is that? Why would I ever apologize to her?" Louise demanded, anger boiling to the surface. She hated that he thought he could manipulate her, that he thought he could make her change her mind so simply.

"Because even though you act like you're so mad, you know you miss her," Gene said simply.

Louise couldn't reply for a long moment. All she could do was glare and then her eyes relaxed. He was right, of course. But she hated it. She hated that he could somehow see right through her. And he knew how to use it against her. "Shut up Gene, or I'll see about buying a new burger costume," she threatened, a small smile peeking around the corner of her mouth. "Something way too small for you. Something really unflattering."

"You know I'd wear it all the time and I would rock it so hardcore you'd be jealous," Gene said with a smile. "Might even drum up some customers."

"Don't tempt me," Louise replied shaking her head, holding back a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: Aerosmith – Dream On


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Belcher Family diner!

"Okay, so what is our plan," Gene said looking up from the stew to Louise who was pacing the kitchen with a frown deeply engraved on her face.

"I don't have a plan, you have a plan, but I sure don't," Louise said not looking at him. She was endeavoring to cut a hole through the floor, into the basement and deep underground, her method for doing this was walking back and forth in the kitchen until the floor wore through. 

"Okay, then what's my plan?" Gene asked in an almost sing-song way.

"Tina will be here at 6:30 and we have dinner. You somehow convince her to work in the restaurant and that's somehow going to make things better," Louise replied angrily. She glared at the rug, it hadn't even begun to wear, she was stuck. 

"And how long is it until then?" Gene asked stirring the stew and scooping some out to taste.

Louise checked her watch and cursed. "Any time now, it's 6:35," she said anxiety creeping into her.

"I can't believe she's late!" Gene declared in mock offense.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. 

"You want to get that or should I?" gene asked looking from his stew to Louise and back again.

"Keep cooking, I'll get it," Louise replied resigning herself to whatever the evening would bring. This would be the second time she had seen her sister in so many hours and she had totally blown the last encounter. She would need to do something big to smooth it over. Her mind raced as to what to do.

Down the stairs and at the door she stopped, her fingers lightly grazing the doorknob. Some part of her wanted to run back upstairs and hide under her bed. She'd pretend she wasn't home and she wouldn't have to go through with this She didn't want to do it. She didn't want to even get close to the idea of Tina helping her. But Gene was right, she couldn't do it on her own. 

With a final breath, she grabbed the knob and pulled the door open.

"Uh... Hi..." Tina said as the door opened.

"Tina... I... I'm... I just..." Louise began, but couldn't find the words.

"It's okay, I forgive you. You were rude and mean, but you're my sister and that's more important," Tina recited as if they were words she had been practicing. They were, but she didn't want it to be too obvious how nervous she was. It was. 

"Tina..." Louise said as tears began to well in her eyes.

"Louise..." Tina replied as she held out her arms and stepping forward embraced her younger sister. 

"I... I can't..." Louise tried to say as tears streamed down her cheeks and she rested her head against Tina's shoulder. 

"It's okay... I can't either..." Tina replied as she held fast to her sister.

A moment later the less than cherub-like voice of Gene came from upstairs. "If you two are done hugging it out, the food is ready."

Tina let go of her sister and stepped back. "Ready to eat?" she asked hopefully.

"Be warned, this is Gene's cooking and I was too busy in the restaurant to supervise. This will either be really good or really bad, prepare yourself," Louise said wiping her eyes and turning to walk up the stairs to the kitchen. 

"Don't worry, I brought a bottle of the pink stuff," Tina replied as she followed Louise up.

-

After super Gene took care of the dishes. There was a little leftover that Louise wondered if she could use somehow for a burger of the day, turn what remained fo the stew into some kind of sauce. Either way, it was covered and in the fridge waiting for that inspiration to strike. It was just as likely Gene would devour it in the middle of the night.

Gene had outdone himself on it and Louise had actually eaten a full bowl of it. Tina and Gene both went back for seconds. 

"So, is the restaurant really not going to make rent?" Tina asked. With the meal over it felt like it was time to get to business. She had a long conversation with Gene before she had agreed to come over, she had wanted to know what was really going on. And it was that conversation that made things clear to her, they needed her and in some small way she knew she needed them right back.

"You know how your Ex cut dad a break because you are married to him," Louise asked leaning back in her chair. 

"Yeah..." Tina replied seeing where this was going.

"When you broke up with him he promptly raised our rent. And every time you break up he raises it again," Louise replied sounding more than a little bitter.

"He doesn't bring it back down when we get back together? He told me he had..." Tina replied sounding shocked and frustrated. It was just another thing he had told her that had meant nothing in the end, like wedding vows...

"Nope, our rent has nearly doubled since the first time you got married to him," Louise said sadly. 

"Crap buckets... How can you pay for that?" Tina asked shocked that she hadn't heard about this sooner. 

"We can't," Louise replied weakly.

"Don't you still have the emergency fund?" Tina asked suddenly feeling how dire things really were. She was pretty sure she knew the answer, but she had to check.

"The bank account is almost empty. I think I have enough for a couple of weeks of beef and then the power bill is due and then rent. We'll lose power and be kicked out before we run out of beef at least," Louise replied frustration building. It just wasn't fair.

"Not the bank account. Gene's college fund is in the cash register. Dad bought savings bonds for each of us years ago. I used my college fund. I figure you used yours, but Gene's should still be there," Tina replied. "I figure they've long since matured by now."

"I have a college fund?" Gene asked sounding quite shocked.

"A what? I paid for my own damn college by working at the world's shittiest diner," Louise replied sounding infuriated at it.

"You didn't notice the envelope in the back of the register drawer. I mean I think Dad might have forgotten about them, but I found them when I was getting ready to move out. I mean... They were labeled and Dad didn't exactly give me mine, but he was kicking me out so... yeah..." She looked away at the admission. A small pang of guilt swept over her. She had done it when she was mad, but she wondered if it had just made things worse.

"Great, and I can't get the register open," Louise replied leaning back in her chair, again defeated. "And I can't afford a repair guy... I just don't trust Teddy's skills these days."

"I can, there's a trick to it. Mom called it her secret security measure... But customers aren't allowed behind the counter... Only employees... So yeah..." Tina looked pointedly at Louise.

"Are you asking me if you can work at the restaurant?" Louise asked skeptically.

"Please say yes, please say yes," Gene chanted quietly.

"Yes," Tina replied flatly. "If you say you need my help."

"Please say it, please say it," Gene chanted again, even quieter, which still wasn't that quiet.

"Tina... I... I mean... It's not that I don't... I just can't..." Louise struggled to say it. She hung her head. She didn't want to admit it, but she knew it was true. "I need your help Tina... Or I'm going to lose everything..."

"Okay, I'll be here in the morning to work the front end. You focus on the grill. I don't think Dad would like me to work on that, but I know Mom won't mind me taking over her old job," Tina said as she got to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Louise asked shocked by how quickly this was happening.

"I need to get home and do laundry. I need something nice to wear if I'm going to be working with customers. I'll be here at 8 sharp to help prep for the lunch rush. Okay?"

Louise nodded and after a few more words back and forth she walked Tina to the door.

"We can do this Louise, I know we can," Tina said before she walked down the block toward her apartment.

"The Belchers are back in business," Gene cried happily as Louise made her way back upstairs."

Louise wasn't sure what to say, but some part of her felt like things were about to get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talking Heads - Burning Down the House


End file.
